hello I have a broody hen who was been sitting on eggs fpr 4 weeks now. too long I know. she is sitting on 14 eggs but none of them have hatched. I have candled some eggs and opened others and there is definitely something inside. I have two questions how can I tell if something is still growing? if she got off the eggs for 1-2 days would they go cold and die?
If it's been a full 4 weeks (28 days) and your candling doesn't show any full developed chicks then they quite developing. I'd try and break her from being broody or sneak a few chicks under her at night. We had a broody sit on the wrong nest for a day and eggs hatched just fine on day 20 but that was early summer when weather was 80F.
At this link, it shows you how and when to candle, and there is a diagram on how to check for the air cell inside the egg. You didn't mention what type of quail eggs you have, but some will be easier to check than others, so you may have a difficult time if you have coturnix. Depending on when your hen abondoned the eggs and for how long would determine if the embyos would survive. If your hen was off of the eggs for more than five or six hours, the eggs would cool and there would be a possibility that the eggs would not hatch. I have read one web site where a hen sat on the wrong nest for an entire day, and the eggs still hatched. I hope this helps, James
